Jim Chalmers

in the last few years, $233 billion stronger.

Debt is down $176 billion.

We found $114 billion worth of savings.

I could give you a whole bunch of different ways that shows that the budget is in substantially better nick than in the 2022 pre-election outlook.

And I'm acknowledging that there's more work to do.

I mean, you referenced the mid-year update in December.

And that had another $20 billion in savings.

The underlying cash position in every year improved.

And so even in that mid-year update, which was a relatively self-contained one, relatively modest one, given a lot of the action was in the budget in March last year, even in that mid-year update, we improved the budget position.

And so we're chipping away.

I think we are making good progress.

We can acknowledge that progress at the same time as we acknowledge we've got more work to do.

Well, I don't like second-guessing the decisions taken a while ago when it comes to the NDIS.

Our highest priority, obviously, is providing a decent level of care for people who need and deserve it, and that's the highest priority, but we've got to make it more sustainable.

I work really closely with Mark Butler and Jenny McAllister, my colleagues, who are

I think doing a terrific job when it comes to making sure that we can afford the NDIS, that it can continue to deliver in a sustainable way for the people who rely on it.

Mark Butler gave, I think, a terrific speech about this in about the third quarter of last year, which showed where the government was heading.

He's done a lot of work with the states and territories, as has the PM and to some extent myself.

Jenny McAllister as well.

And what that's about is making sure that we can make it more sustainable.